The present invention relates to a game which is played using a set of stackable game pieces. In particular, the present invention relates to a game which employs a set of game blocks which are manipulated in accordance with a set of rules.
Games using stackable game pieces are well known. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,918, Kramer teaches a game in which players are provided with a set of game pieces of various shapes, and are required to stack the game pieces on top of each other in layers without causing the structure to collapse. Although such games may be suitable for young children, their simplicity would not maintain the interest of older children or adults.
Other games using stackable game pieces have been developed having a greater level of difficulty than the traditional stacking piece game. In one such game, marketed under the trade-mark JENGA, a tower is constructed from a set of game blocks of generally elongate parallelepiped shape, with the blocks in each layer being perpendicular to the blocks in the layer above and the layer below. Players are required to remove a block from the tower and place it on the uppermost layer without toppling the tower. The ability to strategically select game blocks from the tower increases the level of difficulty of the game.
More recently, a game marketed under the trade-mark JENGA JACKS was developed having an even greater level of difficulty than JENGA. The game is played in a manner similar to JENGA, but employs of set of elongate parallelepiped game blocks having a pair of indicia on their respective ends. As in JENGA, players take turns removing a game block from the tower, and placing it on the uppermost layer of the tower without toppling the tower. However, unlike JENGA, players must select a game block from the tower for removal which, when positioned on the uppermost layer of the tower, has an indicia which matches an indicia on an adjacent block. By so limiting the number of blocks which can be removed, the level of difficulty of the game is increased.
Although JENGA and JENGA JACKS have been commercially successful, it is desirable to provide a stacking game using stackable game pieces which produces an even greater level of difficulty.
According to the invention, there is provided a stacking block game kit and a method of playing a stacking block game which addresses deficiencies of the prior art.
The stacking block game kit includes a set of game cards, a plurality of stackable game pieces, and a set of rules for discarding the game cards and for manipulating the game pieces. Each game card has a card point value and depicts a card indicia thereon. The game pieces are stackable in layers comprising a fixed maximum number of the game pieces. Each game piece has a length and a width, with the width being a portion of the length and the portion being a reciprocal of the maximum number of game pieces in a layer. Game piece indicia are applied to the game pieces, with a portion of the game piece indicia being associated with the card indicia.
The method of playing the stacking block game involves distributing game cards from the stacking block game kit into card hands amongst players of the game, with each said game card having a card point value and depicting a card indicia thereon, and also constructing a structure from the stacking block game kit comprising layers of stackable game pieces, with a portion of the game pieces including game piece indicia associated with the card indicia. Game cards are then discarded from the card hands in accordance with a set of rules and an associated one of the game pieces, with the discarding step being repeated amongst the players until a predetermined terminating step is obtained. Once the terminated step is reached, an aggregate point value is determined for each player at least from the card point values of the game cards remaining in the player""s card hand.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the game card indicia and the game piece indicia comprise a playing card suit and a playing card rank. The game pieces comprise elongate bricks having a parallelopiped shape with a pair of opposite ends and a plurality of faces extending between the opposite ends, and the game piece indicia are disposed on the ends and the faces.
The set of rules require that if a game piece located in the structure below an uppermost one of the layers has a game piece indicia which corresponds with the card indicia of a game card held by one of the players, the player must remove the game piece from the structure, return the removed game piece to the uppermost layer of the structure, and then discard the corresponding game card from the player""s card hand. If the player cannot remove a game piece which has a game piece indicia corresponding with the card indicia of a game card held by the player, the player may remove any other game piece and the player who has a game card whose card indicia corresponds with the removed game piece may discard the corresponding game card. Preferably, the game continues until a player causes the structure to collapse, whereupon a penalty value is added to the aggregate point value of the collapsing player.
The stacking block game kit and associated method of game play is advantageous since it allows a playing player to tactically select the game pieces for removal so as to prevent the other players from being able to deduce the playing players game cards. As a result, the level of difficulty possible with the stacking block game kit and method of game play is greater than prior art stacking block games.